Banana Bonuses

Do you ever go through a cycle of loving bananas, getting lots of them, and then discovering, after a few days, that you just don’t feel like eating them any more?

My family will sometimes go on a streak of eating bananas every day for a full month, and then, without explanation, they just stop. The bananas sit there, in the fruit bowl, getting spottier and spottier, but nobody will touch them.

So, what can we do with the leftovers without wasting them? I have a few ideas that are pretty simple, but delicious!

fruit salad

First, fruit salad: My Grandpa always made the best fruit salad. He would start with sliced bananas and strawberries. The strawberries could be either fresh from the garden, thawed from the freezer or from a glass jar that had been canned in the summer when the garden bounty was at its height.

No matter what else went into the fruit salad, bananas and strawberries were always the base. Sometimes they were all that went in. Well, that and some sugar that made a sweet, syrupy juice.

When I make fruit salad, I usually add whatever fruit I have on hand to my base of bananas and strawberries – pineapple, apple, peeled orange slices, kiwi, grapes, cantaloupe, blueberries, honeydew melon, watermelon – the list is endless. All it needs, when everything is in the bowl, is a squirt of lemon or lime juice (it helps to keep the bananas from getting too brown) and sugar to taste.

If I don’t feel like making a salad, or if I am woefully short on other fruit, I just throw the bananas into the freezer until I am ready to make Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. You can find my video tutorial for this recipe below.

The best part about freezing them is that the bananas don’t require any special packaging or preparation. Just throw them into the freezer as is. When you’re ready to use them, let them thaw in your sink until they’re mushy feeling, break open the top and squeeze them into a bowl. They will slide out along with some watery liquid. This is great because it adds extra moisture to your recipe, which is what you want! They are also very easy to mush up after being frozen. And, added bonus: I have never seen any get freezer burn. Who knew banana peels could be so versatile?